National Council of Jewish Women, Louisville Section

Our Mission: The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) is a grassroots organization of volunteers and advocates who turn progressive ideals into action. Inspired by Jewish values, NCJW strives for social justice by improving the quality of life for women, children, and families and by safeguarding individual rights and freedoms.

Our History: NCJW was founded in 1893 and in every decade since then, NCJW has prioritized the most pressing issues of the moment – including promoting equal pay for women, voting rights, advocating for a fair and independent judiciary, immigrant rights and protecting reproductive health, rights and justice. Nationally, NCJW is now over 180,000 members strong, with 58 sections across all 50 states. The Louisville Section was founded in 1895 by Rebecca Rosenthal Judah to further human welfare through education, philanthropy, service, and social action. For the past 126 years, it has remained committed to its mission and worked diligently using progressive Jewish ideals to strive for social justice in Louisville by launching new community initiatives, collaborating with other organizations, and supporting changes in our community.

Our Work: As early as 1897, NCJW maintained the first summer kindergarten in Louisville and the first free public baths. More recently, NCJW sponsored the creation of Kentucky Youth Advocates (1977), helped establish CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) in 1985, initiated a Court Watch that monitored the cases of victims of domestic violence (1995), started the Adopt-A-School program (2000) and Suitcase Project (2005), raised funds to create the Jefferson County Domestic Violence Intake Center (2009), created a new Court Watch Project on Child Abuse & Neglect Cases in Family Court (2014), and facilitated and raised funds to open the Jefferson Family Recovery Court and maintained social worker’s funding for 3 years (2018). The Nearly New Shop opened in 1956 as NCJW’s resale store and additional source of fundraising. For the last 69 years, community members donated clothing, accessories, home furnishings and furniture to the Shop, which used the proceeds to pay for advocacy projects run by NCJW.

Who We Are

The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) is a grassroots organization of volunteers and advocates who turn progressive ideals into action. Inspired by Jewish values, NCJW strives for social justice by improving the quality of life for women, children, and families and by safeguarding individual rights and freedoms.